Monday, March 13, 2017

New Delhi: Non-availability of air crew led to a delay of 9,808 Air India flights, besides rescheduling of another 10,037 flights and cancellation of 554 flights in 50 months, resulting in a loss of around Rs 30 crore.

From 2012, an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found that such incidents are on the rise. An analysis of the trend in the first three months of 2016 showed that the non-availability of pilots is in the same range as the previous years, while that of cabin crew is on the wane.

In its report ‘Turnaround Plan and Financial Restructuring Plan of Air India Ltd’, the CAG has said that the delays and rescheduling of flights due to non-availability of crew led to excess expenditure to Air India for providing transport, hotel accommodation and other facilities to passengers to the tune of Rs 29.92 crore, between April 2012 and March 2016.

Between January 2012 and March 2016, there were 5,120 instances of flight delays due to shortage of pilots, and 4,688 delays due to cabin crew constraints. There were 8,530 rescheduling of flights due to pilots, and 1,507 reschedules due to cabin crew, while the number of flights cancelled due to cockpit crew constraints were 484, and 70 due to cabin crew constraints.
13/03/17 Shemin Joy/Deccan Herald